Cryptic News from the Willow Creek View. Transhuman Sasquatch Strangeness from the Middle of Nowhere.
A Voice Howling out from the Klamath-Trinity-Siskiyou Wilderness. This is the Megaphone of Steven Streufert and Bigfoot Books, a Used Book Store in Willow Creek, Humboldt County, Extreme Northern California.

Monday, November 30, 2009

NOTE: THIS IS PART ONE OF THE INTERVIEW. WE WILL HAVE MORE COMING UP IN ABOUT A WEEK....

Bigfoot researcher and Patterson-Gimlin Film (PGF) expert, M.K. Davis commented on our recent blog entry on the Port Orford Cedars in the Bluff Creek, CA area, and that contact has led to this interview. It was started November 10th and is still ONGOING. It was done via email exchange.
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MK DAVIS: Steve, I'd be very happy to do this. My wife quit her job and went to nursing school full time, so my funds did not permit a return [to Bluff Creek] this year. I should be ready when they open it up again. I wish I had fully appreciated what I was seeing, because I feel that I could at least have gotten good photos of the thing [Ed.: this story follows]. M.K.

BIGFOOT BOOKS: I have a bunch of things I want to ask, but first, do you mind doing an interview in the manner of a discussion? I prefer to keep these interviews more free-formed and open, rather than simple Q-and-A. If you'd prefer to keep it more brief I can try to manage that, too.

As regards the various controversial things, I DO hope you will talk about them; but please know, I am NOT "out to get you" in these matters. Simply, I am thinking that you'd like to speak out and make your case. There are a lot of folks who say bad things about that theory (the so-called "Bluff Creek Massacre"), and by extension you, so it seems that addressing them would be important.

My own position is that of an objective journalistic observer of the Bigfoot field. Yes, I am involved, and I have my own opinions. But in an interview I am mainly interested in where the interviewee is coming from. I find you to be an interesting person, and your views are pretty unique, so I'd like to explore that. There are a lot of people whose views in bigfooting are basically "my way or the highway"--but I find those to be counter-productive attitudes.

Images: Above, the famous "LOOK" frame 352 from the Patterson-Gimlin Film (PGF); Below, the issue of Daniel Perez'BIGFOOT TIMES featuring M.K. Davis as the 2007 "Bigfooter of the Year," and MK with his telescope. CLICK ALL IMAGES TO ENLARGE.

I thought I should let you know the range of my intentions in our proposed interview. The questions would range from these hubs:

* The Salamander, or How I Got to Know You

* Your Bluff Creek trip(s)

* Your life background

* How did you get into Bigfoot?

* Why the PGF in particular?

* Do you do "field work"?

* Is Bigfoot Human? What IS Bigfoot?

* If Bigfoot is Human, why no evidence of culture, tools?

* Is Bigfoot flesh and blood, or mystical somehow?

* Native American backgrounds--your views on these?

* The "massacre" theory--do you still believe in it? Why?
* Your current projects, and future steps in bigfooting?

* Have you "retired" from bigfoot pursuits?

* What else do you do in life besides Bigfoot topics?

MK DAVIS: Hey Steve, it sounds like some good stuff to talk about. I do want to be careful about the more sensitive topics. I appreciate a chance to clear some things up, but I am aware of how things can get a little convoluted.

BIGFOOT BOOKS: Well, good. I think personally that it would be good for you to deal, at least a little, with the controversy, as there are folks wondering what's up with you, as you kind of withdrew from public debates at that point. Some are kind of angry. I think an interview that didn't include something on that would be a bit incomplete, you know? I'm not out to attack, nor to discredit you. I just want to know your thoughts, views, and especially where you're heading into the future. I'm not one of those who think that Gimlin and Green are superhuman gods, though I do respect those guys a real whole lot. One thing: if possible it would be great to find new territories that you perhaps might not have spoken about before in other venues.

MK DAVIS: I've been looking into the redwoods video from 1997. There are some interesting things in that video, that I think should be considered. I've stabilized the clip and brightened it quite a bit. It definitely deserves more attention, I believe.

BIGFOOT BOOKS: Let's save Redwoods for later. Question #1, then. MK, I'd known about your work on the Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot film for years, but I never actually talked to you until this summer. It was a SALAMANDER that brought us into contact (read our previous story HERE). Can you tell this story, and what WAS it that you saw, under what circumstances?

MK DAVIS: Here's brief account of the salamander sighting. I'm glad that you asked about it, as I did not record it, and memory fades with time.

[MK submitted a Word file that contained the following new composition by him, constituting his answer to this question.]

My Personal Sighting of a Large Salamander in Bluff Creek, Near Orleans.
My sighting of a large salamander in Bluff Creek was a bit serendipitous. I had not gone there for that reason, and I had no idea what I was looking at, until the next day, when I saw another, smaller one, up Notice Creek, during a hike in that area. It was then that I realized that, what I had seen the previous day, in Bluff Creek, was the same thing, only much larger. The salamander was in a deep pool that was crystal clear. I could easily see all the way to the bottom. I went to refill some water bottles in the later part of the day, not long after arriving at our camping spot, and when I looked into the pool, I could see it on the bottom moving slowly upstream. I could see that it had splotches or a mottling type of pattern on its back. I assumed that it must be some kind of large fish, as it appeared to be about three feet long. I watched it for a while, and then I went back to the camp, and told my friend Don Monroe that I had seen a really large fish in the bottom of the pool. He told me later, that he had assumed that I was referring to something along the lines of six to eight inches long. He thought that such a length was large for the small stream. He did not investigate. The next day, when we happened upon another specimen up Notice Creek, I immediately recognized the mottled pattern at close range, and instantly realized that what I had seen that previous evening, in the pool, was a salamander. When I told Don this he became upset at me for not being more emphatic about the size. I told Don that in Mississippi, where I am from, the fish tend to get quite large, and when I said large, it was with reference to the size of the fish back there. I know little about the fish in Northern California. There are some fish in Mississippi that require a fish of six to eight inches for bait, so there was something lost in translation when I was telling Don about it. We returned to the pool about mid day and did not see the salamander again. I don’t know where it went. There were rock overhangs under the water, and I speculate that it might have gone under one of those.

After returning home to Mississippi, I recounted the story to my friend Roger Knights, who informed me of the importance of finding such a large amphibian there in that area. Roger wanted me to mount an expedition, along with Don Monroe, to try and relocate the salamander again and attempt to record or, perhaps, to capture it. Roger purchased some netting and sent it there to Bigfoot Books, there in Willow Creek, California, in care of his friend Steve Streufert, the owner. I was not able to return again this year, due to obligations here at home, but I certainly would like to find the creature again and get some good photos or perhaps assist in a brief capture.

BIGFOOT BOOKS: So, it sure wasn't much compared to a large catfish! But I take from what you are saying that you were unaware of the Pacific Giant Salamander? These are common in the Bluff Creek area; BUT they very rarely get over a foot long--and even then they are shockingly large. If you saw one that was three feet long, then that is a new species altogether! Or it was some freak of nature, perhaps? In fact, it comes close to the old legends I still hear around Willow Creek and from the Hupa People of these monster-sized salamanders supposed to have lived in area lakes, ponds, and streams. They are said to get up to around six feet, and have been said to be capable of eating younger humans! There is a section about them in Cryptozoology A-Z. Roger Knights suggested to me that it could indeed have been one of these undocumented giant cryptid species. What do you think? And are you aware that there are known true giant salamanders in Asia?

Is the picture you sent of the same large one you saw? How sure are you of the size estimate? Do you think it was a Pacific Giant, or something... ELSE? And what was your expedition into Bluff and Notice Creeks all about? I assume you were looking for... Bigfoot? Mostly you are known for film analysis--are you also a field researcher?

MK DAVIS: The photo that I sent you was that of a salamander of about ten inches long that I got a very close look at while trekking up Notice Creek. The one that I saw in Bluff Creek, appeared to be quite a bit larger than that. It was at the bottom of the pool however, but the water there was very clear, and I could see the same mottled pattern on it. I was not there for that reason, however, so I did not fully appreciate what it was that I was looking at. We have small salamanders at home, but they stay out of sight mostly. Nothing like what I saw there. Here's a view of the pool that I saw it in. This was taken the next day during bright sunlight. There is a lot of glare in the photo, but on the previous day, later in that day, there was very little glare, and I could see it pretty good. I know a bit more about them now, having had this experience and doing some checking, but at the time, I made a note of it, but did not study hard on what it was. I just wrote it off as a large fish, until I saw the one up close on the next day. I estimate its length at around three feet. It made the second one I saw look like a baby.

My expeditions into the Bluff Creek area have been mostly "film" related. It's almost a prerequisite to understanding the film, to actually see the place in person. It was after examining the peculiar nature of the Bluff Creek sand, that I was able to find some of the actual footprints from the film subject, in the film itself, and from there, to find the frames that showed the subject's foot making the print.

I am an astronomer at heart, and astronomers are merely trained observers... trained to take whatever the field of view will yield, and to use, develop, and employ techniques to extrapolate as much useful information as can be gotten. Most of these techniques have been around for a long time, and used widely in astronomy. I haven't done anything special with the film that was not already being done in the many disciplines of science. The film has yielded so much, because it is a special film, of a special event. It is inconceivable to me, that a staged event would produce much more than that which was planned for by the stagers. The sheer volume of data, yielded from this film, strongly suggests a live event that was not under the control of the filmographer. What I have seen on the film, leaves little doubt, in my mind, that we are all peering into history, when we view it.

Images, most courtesy of MK Davis: above, at the Bluff Creek and Klamath River confluence; below, with son Bryan up a creek off the Creek, on a recent expedition.

When I last ventured into the area, it was at the request of my son Bryan, who wanted to see the area for himself. He is a journalist and a history major in college. I feel strongly that this area, for whatever reasons, continues to be a better than average place to go and look for such things. I don't know if it's fair to call me a researcher or not, but I do try hard to acquire first hand knowledge. I gather raw data, and make observations that can be later used in problem solving. I have done this at my own expense, but not without help from many interested ones who have extended themselves to get me into these places and to help in many other ways, and I am indebted to them. They know who they are.

BIGFOOT BOOKS: Re. the salamander—it is too bad you didn't capture the BIG one on film! Did it look really similar to the normal-sized Pacific Giant Salamander that you saw the next day? If so, one has to really wonder. Three feet is totally beyond accepted sizes for the species. The ten inch one was an adult, more or less fully grown size. And, how sure are you of that size? I'm assuming your astronomer's eye took into account the depth of the pool and distortions of light through the water, right? Let's hope next summer's expeditions can find another one! The capture nets are waiting for you here in the shop.

Now, re. bigfooting—how did you get involved in the Bigfoot subject, and WHY Bigfoot? What in your personal background led to this interest and all the work you've done in this area? How big a part does bigfooting and Bigfoot research now play in your life? And could you tell us a bit by way of personal biography and career history so that our readers may know where you're coming from in life? And, is your son following in your footsteps in some regards? Who besides Don Monroe are your research associates or group affiliations?

And, re. Bluff Creek—I feel that this area is beautiful, and very mysterious. It is the area, “in my backyard,” where I tend to go to explore and enjoy nature. I don't always know if that is because of the legend of the Patterson-Gimlin film, the Jerry Crew track finds, or what; but I do feel that the mystery persists. Do you view it this way, or is any old place where Bigfoot might live equally fascinating?

Image: Says MK, "Here is an example of the high quality of the film in its original format. This is only a screen capture of the image. It is truly a very large file and is in pristine condition. I'll get into how this kind of quality exists side by side with some very bad stuff."

MK DAVIS: I am aware of the refractive qualities of water. I used to bow-fish in the shallow sandy bottom creeks near home. In order to get a fish, you had to know about where the true location was, compared to the refracted image. However, this was in shallow water. We do not have this type of depth, combined with this type of clarity. I was looking down on it at a steep angle, so the refraction wasn't that great. It was on the bottom, but the water was extremely clear. I could see that it had an unusual mottling pattern on its back. It appeared to be about three feet long, down there on the creek bottom. I could see that it had appendages, but my mindset was that it must be a fish of some kind, so I just assumed at the time, that these must be fins. That's the only thing that I have to go by, since I haven't had any experience with pools that deep and clear. If it could be netted, I guess we would know for sure.

Image: Says MK, "The quality of this transparency cannot be overstated. Very basic features are discernible here. In this enlargement filtration is used along with contrast boost to reveal the true face of the Patterson subject."

My involvement in Bigfoot and Sasquatch research, has largely been a singular effort, mostly involving the Patterson film. I don't think that I had anything more than a passive interest in the subject, until I saw some very clear images from the film. I knew, from my experience with astronomy, and "astro-photography", that such stunning images could not have come from "blurry" film. I knew that there must, somewhere, be a very good copy of this film, and that if I could find it, I might be able to resolve the issues surrounding the Sasquatch, using the film itself. This is not to say that I have not had help and assistance in this. A singular effort means that I had engaged the problem of the film on my own terms, and I was prepared to go where the film evidence dictated. I wanted to apply my own knowledge and experience to the film, and not be subjected to outside influences that might have served, in the past, to render it indecipherable. Getting access to these apex images would be the key to understanding it.

My background is a simple one. I was born and raised in the area where I now live. I have always been interested in science and nature. I am married, and I have four grown children. My wife and I have been married for 32 years. I own two large telescopes that are outfitted for photography. I have used these scopes to pursue astro-photography for a number of years. I have had a long career in industry, and I currently work in the chemical industry.

Image: Gluteus Maximus musculature quite evident in the film. Do these buttocks look like those of a man in a suit?

I have been "cold-trailing" this film for quite a few years, and like I said earlier, this has largely been a singular effort. Like a good bloodhound, however, once the scent trail has heated up, the slow bloodhound is replaced by the faster and more heads-up walker hounds. From this point on, the outcome is inevitable.

My sons are interested, but I think that they will probably make their own tracks upon this earth, and not follow in mine. I hope that this is the case.

The Bluff Creek area is certainly, as far as I am concerned, "ground zero" for Sasquatch. When I say "Sasquatch" I mean the PNW typical of what is on the Patterson film. The term, "Bigfoot," although originally coined in the PNW, has become a more generic term that encompasses almost anything unexplained, that makes a large track. The term "Sasquatch" is, and always has been, a large hairy human. My friends from other parts of the country, and in many parts of the world, tell me that what is on the Patterson film, is very different from what they see, or have seen. I take them at their word. So...the bulk of my attention has been on the PNW Sasquatch, of the Bluff Creek drainage. An area that I have come to know and appreciate, as you have, for its mystery and beauty.

BIGFOOT BOOKS: So, we can take it that your view, used to making fine distinctions in astronomy, for instance, would not be inclined to see things that are not there. A three-foot salamander seen by MK Davis, then, is going to be more or less a bit a three-foot salamander, right?

Image: The foot, by the arrow, showing the mid-tarsal break flexibility of the Bigfoot/Sasquatch foot.

And re. Bigfoot: I take it, then, that you did not have a particular obsession with the phenomenon, but rather just found it an enigmatic challenge of analysis? Bigfoot didn't have some great mysterious appeal or meaning for you, like it does for some (like it does for me)?

Regarding the film, what copy or copies of the P-G film have you worked with, and what was their source? What generation of copying do they come from? As I know you know, copying of a film can result not only in the degradation of clarity and color and such, but also can introduce new elements such as grain, film imperfections, scratches, dust, possible distortions or minute additions to the images. I'm wondering if certain things that are seen by some in a particular copy of the film could perhaps not be there in another.

One fellow in particular rose up in the YouTube rankings for a while with a series of “Patterson Bigfoot Film Debunked!” postings. This Leroy Blevins claims to see “hats” entering frames, “men” present on the film site ground that were later removed, horses standing in the background, “Bob Gimlin” sitting in the trees behind the film creature, secret film splicings, etc. He uses all of this “evidence” to try to discredit the film and its makers. He also claimed, in lengthy conversations with me recently, to have somehow influenced the direction of YOUR own research. Do you know him, or of his works, and what do you think? Contrary to this, your own work seems to have decidedly reached the conclusion that the creature/hominid (whatever we call it) is REAL. How sure are you that it isn't a man in a suit, and what in the film convinces you of its veracity?

Your original renown in the bigfooting world came from the incredible stabilization work you did on the film, allowing us to really see the creature without all that bouncing around of the camera. That work was just in presenting the film subject, not in INTERPRETING what is seen in the film. But since then you've come out with ideas and theories of what is IN the film. Now, I have to say, when I view the film, and I mean just watching it without any special enhancing software or frame-by-frame capability, I don't see all too much in there but for a creature walking on a sandbar, one that looks very real to me, and not like a regular-sized human in an ape suit. You've been known for finding a lot of special kinds of things and features in the film, including some that suggest the creature may be more human than ape. Can you talk about this, and how you found these things in the film? And how sure can we be that these things are within the resolution levels and capacity of the 1960s 16mm Kodak film, and not just distortions of the film stock itself or later copying flaws?

MK DAVIS: Light will slow down by about 1/4 when entering clear water. As long as the surface is flat, it will produce image shift, but not much in the way of magnification. The surface would have to be a parabola or a hyperbola in order to magnify. This does not mean that interpretation cannot be in error, it certainly can. The three foot estimate, is just that...an estimate only. Give or take some, but I feel pretty sure that it was a genuinely large specimen.

Re: Bigfoot. Not an obsession, initially, but fodder for a curious mind. I thought that if the film were to be real, then the film and the subject itself would be manifestly important. Once I began to work on the film, using quality images, it became very apparent that I was looking at something living and natural, and not a man in a suit. Bad copies of the film have done the film a great disservice, and until recently, that was what was mostly available to the public. There are a lot of documentary film makers that claim that they worked with the original, but according to my information, that could not be correct, as the original was supposed to have disappeared some time ago.

Every copy of the film has something to offer to the analyst. This was originally a "positive" film, i.e. there was no negative. It was developed as a positive, and reproduced as a positive. When a positive image is repeatedly copied, it builds contrast. In other words, the darks become darker, and the brights become brighter. This can be observed in many copies that are claimed to be the original. The sand bar appears to be white. You know that in that area the sand is very dark when wet, and is a blue-gray tone when dry. The original or a good copy should show the true color of the sand. I have worked with good film that does indeed show this sand to be a blue-gray, so I know I was close to the original. The original film stock was a very good theater grade stock called Kodachrome 2, that had some very complex developing issues, that I won't go into here, but required some special expertise and equipment and chemicals. This translates into time, and there was not enough time to have had this done conventionally, according to the timelines given of the event. So...while the film thrives, the story line suffers from its own flaws.

The various copies also have various degrees of cropping applied to them, mostly to make the film subject appear larger. This, however robs the analyst of hard data that is contained in the periphery of the film. I have worked with transparencies made from the original film, that do not suffer from the vignetting that is found on a lot of copies. Vignetting is a distortion around the periphery of the frame that is a lens defect and is exacerbated by copying. These transparencies are sharp edge to edge. I'll attach an example of their quality. The various copies also suffer from chromatic aberration. This becomes more apparent when magnifying the image, and can largely be corrected for with filtration. The black and white stabilizations that you were referring to were not only hand stabilized, but each and every frame had the chromatic aberration corrected for, before reassembling the film in its stabilized form, this contributed mightily to the amount of detail that was seen in the stabilizations. It was all very labor intensive.

As far as Mr. Blevins and his work, I do not know him. I have not had any affiliation with him. I have not shared anything with him, nor him me. I did see some of his YouTube postings, and I do not agree with him at all on his findings. I looked into some of his findings that were posted and found that most, if not all, did not agree with what I had on film. Mr. Blevins, as far as I know, does not have quality images to work with. The better images usually prevent this kind of thing from developing. I tend to look askance at people who refer to themselves as the best, or the greatest, because I believe that this film should be looked at completely neutrally, without a view of how it might be a vehicle to take someone to some sort of level of greatness. There are no pontiffs in this business. I'll attach a file that demonstrates how Mr. Blevins was incorrect on one of his assumptions [see above], and there are many more. I do, however, wish him the best; but he should be aware that there are very good images and versions of this film out there, and that being said, the film tends to be "self-correcting", when properly observed.

Regarding the "humanness" of the Patterson film subject: The possibility of humanness has always been there with the Patterson film. The film subject walks upright with the basic biomechanics being the same as "human" as we know it. Due to the quality of the film available to most scientists who have tried to look into the matter, there has always been a question as to the nature of what we are looking at on the film. My goal was to get the very highest quality images from the film, and let the film tell its own story. What I found on the film, does indeed point strongly in the direction of the film subject being a human. This is not to say that she isn't strange, but rather, there has been nothing that "disqualifies" her from being human. There are, however, certain features that, once I found were there, are profoundly human in nature, and not a man in a suit either.

The first such feature that I was to find on the film were features on the face,the lips in particular. The film must be exhaustively advanced frame by frame, until the synchronicity between the filmogrpaher and the film subject are aligned, and the lighting good. This occurs as she is beginning to look back towards the men. [See photo.] The image on the left is the "raw" image from the film. The right has been filtered. This filtration is the same technique used to filter the sun and planets in order to see the different wavelengths of light. If very subtle lips can be made to more dominate the image by splitting the two very different light wavelengths and then boosting the diminished tones. It is not in any way "adding" anything to or taking anything away from the image. It is simply making the more subdued tones dominate the image. This is called enhancement. When I was able to get access to the transparencies from the original film, I was able to confirm that [this] image did indeed contain the the lips of the individual, and those lips were of a "full" nature and appeared human.
When the two frames are animated then a flexible, dynamic mouth becomes apparent. While following the film frame by frame, I could see that the hair on the side of the head was quite long, and was blowing in the wind. I followed it until I saw it blow forward, over the ear, and there was the ear itself, in plain view briefly until the hair fell back over it.

The ear appeared to be of normal proportions. There was nothing "non human" about it. If the viewer looks carefully at the raw image on the left, the ear can be seen without the aid of enhancement, but much better with it. The skin of the subject is of a different tone than that of the hair. The hair is very light, and is easily penetrated by the sunlight. The sunlight reflects off the skin and back through the hair. This essentially creates two reflective surfaces that are of two different tones. These tones can be split apart and the two tones treated independently of each other. By doing such, I was able to turn "down" the tones of the hair, and boost the tones on the skin. I did such to all the images where the sunlight was striking the back directly, and when I animated the sequence, the muscle movement along the back and spine and gluts became much more obvious. Here is a file that demonstrates this. Again, this was very laborious. The gluts can also be seen to move independently of each other.... There are many more files to consider that I don't have time for here, but I think you can see my point that, the question of whether this is a man in a suit can be solved with the film itself, and leaves little room for argument.

BIGFOOT BOOKS: MK, what were the origins of the source film materials you used and what software do you utilize?

I've heard heard all of this talk about Sasquatch being human, not just coming from the MK camp. But what do you mean by “human”? I'll elaborate....

Patty/Bigfoot may indeed be on the hominid branch of the primate tree, but "human"? Unless one has a pretty darn flexible idea of what is human, I'm not sure this makes sense. To me it is like a gorilla sitting around asking, Are orangutans gorillas? No, but we are all related. Humans are apes, too. Genetically, Sasquatch and Homo Sapiens are obviously quite different. If we put Patty on the streets of a city I'm not sure anyone would mistake her for human. Evolutionarily, there is no reason that bipedalism could not have evolved in two separate lines--I mean, look at dolphins: they evolved fish-like form completely separately from fish. It is function and survival success that causes this parallelism, I think. If they were "human" like us don't you think we'd find at least SOME cultural and tool artifacts from Bigfoots? So far we have sticks and stones, and a few beds.

The Bigfoot may indeed be a "relic" hominid, and may indeed be very close to us. Homo Erectus, Robustus, etc., yes, maybe. But, then again, evolution is strange that way. All dogs are wolves, basically, but LOOK at them, they are highly variegated. We humans are apes, but cannot interbreed with gorillas. The ape family contains, I'd say, variations on a theme. Based upon lifestyle functions, traits persist and develop. We went down the upright walking, hunting and gathering line, as it appears has Sasquatch.

Our problem in looking at this question is, I think, due to our general view of ourselves as exceptional, as if we are not apes--but basically, we are. We seem incapable of really conceiving of ourselves as an evolving part of the animal kingdom, so it distorts our views of the other creatures in our world.

This possibility of interbreeding is intriguing. The local Northern Californian tribal groups speak of this stuff, and not too far in the distant past either. There are women here in my area who are still afraid to go into the woods for the fear of being abducted by the Hairy Man. That would indeed suggest that we are very close indeed to the Bigfoot genetically, especially if viable offspring can result as has sometimes been reported among tribes like the Hupa (as covered recently in Paulides' The Hoopa Project) And I don't mean the kind of thing one hears about in the Weekly World News! It is odd, but a great dane can breed with a chihuahua, so go figure.

The details you reveal in the film are amazing. The ear, lips, muscles, head movement all suggest not just authenticity, but yes, a very human-like quality to the creature. I'd argue that she is obviously evolutionarily CLOSE to us, but you seem to be going further than that. To me, being “human” is more than just genetics. It is about how our genetic basis expresses itself in evolutionarily-advantaged and exaggerated higher brain function, tool utilization, culture, aesthetics, social organization, technology, language, etc. Even so-called “primitive” societies living in the wilds have really quite elaborate cultures and survival technologies. We have lost a lot of the “animal-like” qualities that apes have, that our ancestors had: the fang-like canine incisors, the brow ridge, the sagittal crest, the hairiness. Patty does have more of these features than we do. So how is she... human?

Do you mean to say that Bigfoot is a literal human, or just some parallel human-like hominid form? What other things do you see in the film that would weigh in on the human side of the equation? I read in the Bigfoot Times that you see Patty carrying a digging stick--is this the kind of thing you are finding? Does Bigfoot have a... CULTURE, and not just instinct? You made the analogy of yourself to a “bloodhound” in regard to the film—what is it that you are tracking down? What exactly did you mean by: “From this point on, the outcome is inevitable”?

Images: Full neck movement and human-like arm swing... evidence that Bigfoot is of the Homo line, not the Simian or Pongid?

MK DAVIS: Based upon the Patterson film alone, there is nothing that "disqualifies" the Patterson film subject from being human. The excessive hair is abnormal among humans, but not unheard of. When the images from the film are examined it becomes apparent that the hair coverage is very light indeed. There are examples of humans with the various traits that are seen on the Patterson film subject, however, there are no examples of upright walking apes, living in a montane environment. This alone tips the scales in favor of human. This is not to say that she is recognizably normal by any means, but I don't know how unusual a human can look when the populations get low and consanguinary relationships begin to develop. I know that this can cause some startling defects genetically.

The Hoopas [ed.: "Hupas" is technically correct] have told me that in years past, they used to trade with them. They conversed with them and actually traded goods with them. They told me that, by and large, the Sasquatch were untrustworthy, and were considered "rule breakers." The Sasquatch were said to raid the nets of the Hoopa and were pretty much lawless. If that was the case then, I wondered, how do the Sasquatch handle such a cold environment with little or no clothing? There again, there are examples of this.

Down on the tip of South America there used to live (and some say there still are) a tribe of people that Europeans came to call Yahgans. This area of the world had precipitation for 300 days out of the year, with most of it in the form of ice of freezing rain and snow. These people would dive for clams in 35 degree water, with hardly a shiver. When Charles Darwin weighed anchor offshore from the Yahgans, a group of them came out in canoes. Darwin [see "*" quotation from Darwin, below the interview] said that there was a woman in one of the canoes who was suckling a baby, and both she and the baby were naked and exposed to the freezing precipitation. The precipitation was falling so hard that it was building up on her and the baby, yet, to them, it was like a day at the beach.

The Yahgans also had very unusual feet. The toes were almost as long as the fingers of the hand, and they were known to grasp, and hold on to rocks with their feet, to keep the gale force winds from blowing them down. See the attached photos of a Yahgan family. Incidentally, the true name for the Yahgans was "Yamana." It was the Europeans that gave them the Yahgan name. At times in the past, the low position of the Patterson subject's breasts has been an issue for debate. Observe the position of the breasts there on the Yahgan woman.

Image: The strange, large,long-toed feet of the Yahgan/Yaghan people. Above, showing them in their natural state. Tragically, only one full-blood member of this tribe survives today. The majority died from contact with European diseases, often caught once they had put on clothes for the first time.

I mentioned earlier that there were two reflective surfaces on the Patterson film subject. One being the hair, which is thin and wispy. The other being the skin itself, which is of a lighter color than the hair. The sun strikes both surfaces, i.e. the sun penetrates the fine layer of hair, then reflects off the skin and back through the hair and to the camera lens. This is why the muscle movement is so easily seen, because the hair does not obscure "totally." Here is an example in the attached file called "Backhair pattern." There are many places, in the film, where the sun strikes the subject's back in such a way that the skin is visible beneath the hair. Here are some samples in the photo attached called " Back detail collage." There are many more as well.

This level of detail is best seen in the higher quality versions of the film, which I have been privy to. I cannot, here, divulge the sources of the film that I have and have worked with, but I have seen and worked with the very best. Let me digress a moment back to the subject of humanity. I hoped to make the point that the human genome contains, within its make up, the potential for variation. The human genome has been said to be "The treasury of human inheritance, and a vast dump or recycling center" (from Medicinenet.com).

The word "homo" has been around for a while, but the sapiens part is fairly recent. Science has hunted for the proper word to accompany the homo, that would describe the entire family of mankind. Sapien means "Wise," so...homosapiens would be "wise man." I am open to the possibility that these ones called Sasquatch may not be that wise, but we've all had our moments. If these are not sapiens, then they are certainly not simians either. Then...what are they? Perhaps "Homo Exotica." My mind is open.

It's pretty clear that this is not a man in a suit, isn't it Steve? You're a smart guy, you know what you are looking at here. Whatever kind of woman this is, she is living naked and in the wild. It has been a privilege to work with this film. These kind of images do not need a lot of explaining. No complex, scientific formulas, no indecipherable jargon. It is a good photographic record of a living being, and it shows in the film so splendidly as in these images and many more.

BIGFOOT BOOKS: For the record, I do NOT think it is a man in a suit. No way. It is, to me, very, very convincing. But the question, What IS "Bigfoot?" still remains....

MK DAVIS: As far as culture is concerned, if what I can gather from Native American accounts is true, there is a rudimentary type of culture among them. We really do not know if they use fire or not. It is not prudent to assume they do not because we do not find any of the remains of their fires. The reason that I say this is that it has been documented that, among primitive peoples, certain ones are skilled at producing fires with little to no smoke, by careful choices of wood types. Ishi, the last wild Native American to come in from the wild, stated that he lived in a ten square mile area, surrounded by settlements, and was never detected, because he only burned low-smoke wood types, and then covered the fire over with chaparral bush to absorb the little smoke that was produced.

This same thing was observed among the primitive peoples of the Amazon basin, on a recently aired documentary by National Geographic. The primitive people were encountered on a river bank, and when they ran off, the fires that they had cooked with the previous night had been carefully hidden. Tool types among the most primitive, can be something as simple as a stick, or rock. The Yamana, or "Yaghans" spoken of earlier, were very proficient rock throwers, and many of them could get dinner with a well aimed throw, even hitting birds in the air. If the Sasquatch did raid nets, if they did converse with the Hoopa, if they did trade with the Hoopa, if they are human although rudimentary and primitive, then some culture must exist among them.

BIGFOOT BOOKS: Well, I'm no biologist, but if the DNA of gorillas is 98-99% identical to human DNA (and look at the difference!), then perhaps we are splitting a few too fine hairs here. I'd let it suffice to say that we are all related, the primates, and that without cultural-species bias the human race and its antecedents and relatives are all part of the same family. Clearly, from what you show, the Sasquatch is not strictly an ape, as we know them. It isn't a chimp, an orang, a gorilla; but nor really perfectly aligned with homo sapiens. BUT, we are all members of the biological family, Hominidae. As you know, early forms of homo- emerged from the same ancestors as apes, some dying out while others survived to evolve into the currently evolving human form which has come to dominate the planet. There is clear evidence that early hominid forms sometimes co-existed with each other, even perhaps retaining the capacity to interbreed, as is speculated with Neanderthals and modern humans. Is it possible that a branch like Homo erectus or Homo habilis persisted, and continued to adapt and evolve? Bigfoot seems to be clearly close to the homo- line, though from what segment and how closely related to us has to be determined, I'd say, when a body is found.

Image above: Hirsute Woman, from the medieval Nuremberg Chronicles

You may be right: this creature/being may be a subgroup that diverged at an earlier stage from the recognized form of homo sapiens, still basically "human," but remaining wild where we became civilization-adapted. Civilized, socialized life clearly has altered and is affecting the development of our branch of the hominid species. I would not rule out the possibility that inbreeding or isolated development could be the cause of Sasquatch's height, big feet, hairiness, etc. But, these are adaptations that have allowed it to survive, or they would not persist. Survival conditions for them are clearly different than they are for us. Hirsutism in humans does exist, and is probably a remnant of the gene expressions and hormones from when we needed that hair. I've read that we have essentially the same number of hairs as apes, but ours are just not as long and thick. With the Sasquatch being a self-segregating, reclusive and mostly non-interactive species, their own distinct qualities can be seen as particular to them, even if they may be called hominids rather than hominoids.

There are a few questions that occur to me at this point. First, how well does the PGF represent the Bigfoot as a species? I mean this in regard to the difference you mentioned earlier between the PNW Sasquatch and the regional variants such as the Skunk Ape that seem, well, much more animal and ape-like. How might this difference influence your opinion of their human-ness? On another hand, one of the strongest and most commonly used proofs used to claim that the PGF is NOT a hoax is that it COULD NOT have been a hoax, as the creature is so large, ape-like, walks differently from us, varies greatly anatomically, is more bulky than any human, etc. What do you say to that argument? Could there be more that one species of hairy biped on this continent, one being human-like the other more an ape, basically? Maybe these are diverging sub-groups? And, if Bigfoot IS human, with all the brainpower we have, they MUST have culture, right? I mean, what would they DO out there in the woods save for mere survival?

And in regard to the Native Americans, it is mysterious--what do you make of the tellings of interaction, language and such when set against, say, the old Dzonokwa tales that make Sasquatch out as a giant ogress/ogre with supernatural powers? One still hears these views, that the Bigfoot were "Stick Indians" or "Indian Devils," or as David Paulides put it recently, a "tribe." But they are also seen as spirits, demons even. What can one take from a tradition that at once claims extreme human-ness and yet metaphysical and supernatural powers?

Last June you sent me an image of Patty that suggested she had a braided top-knot of hair, not a pointed sagittal crest. Do you still hold with that idea? And, since you just mentioned it--WHAT is the significance of that HAND PRINT on the log, in the photo you attached? How did it get there? What is it from? What is it made of? And why is it there?

MK DAVIS: I know that much has been made of the "closeness" of the simians to humans genetically, especially the chimpanzee, which is said to be 98.4% genetically human. The complexity of genetics must be accounted for, however. A lot of people tend to look at things in the most simplistic of ways. With a number like 98.4%, they must be nearly human...right? Well...not if the other remaining 1.6% are a prerequisite for being or having the ability to behave as a human. There was a chimpanzee that took nearly six years to learn to crack nuts with a rock. This particular chimpanzee never was able to teach any of the others in its group to use the rock. This is my point, while much has been learned about genetics in the past 100 years, not nearly everything is known, and the importance of chromosomal information is not uniform across the board. That 1.6% appears to be essential in being able to put intelligence to work, which is a human trait. Oddly enough, a chimp of such limited ability, seems to have no trouble picking up the habit of smoking, which is common in zoos that still keep chimps in close proximity to people. There are other biological uniquenesses in the simians, especially the gorillas, that might be a barrier to such a cross over. While the chimp can and does eat meat, the gorilla is a strict vegetarian. The stomach of a gorilla is distended and is tailor-made to digest very rough vegetation. The gorilla will sometimes catch its own excrement and eat it, in order to get a particular vitamin from it that could not be broken down with one pass through its system.

Hey Steve. It will be a bit touch and go for a day or so, until the holiday is over. I still plan to touch on the humanity/culture question some more, if you don't mind. Please be patient, and have a safe holiday. M.K.

BIGFOOT BOOKS: No hurry, really. I'd say that we're about 2/3 through the interview, unless you have any other issues to raise. I'm glad to go on forever talking about this stuff, if need be. Re. culture: to me it is the real sign of human-ness, as all that higher brain power just HAS to go somewhere, like into aesthetics, religion, philosophy, science, music, etc. A big, human brain out there in the wilds might run out of things to "DO," you know? I often wonder about the intelligent animals. Like, what does a whale think about? What is the inner life of a gorilla? Etc.

MK DAVIS: ?????? [Tune in next week!]

EDITOR: AT THIS POINT MK HAD TO TAKE A THANKSGIVING BREAK, SO WE HAVE DECIDED TO PUT OUT THIS INTERVIEW IN TWO PARTS. CHECK BACK IN A WEEK OR SO AND WE SHOULD BE DONE WITH AN EQUAL LENGTH OF MATERIAL.

Darwin, the naturalist, under date of December 25, 1832, wrote of the Yahgans:

"While going one day on shore near Wollaston Island, we pulled alongside a canoe with six Fuegians. These were the most abject and miserable creatures I anywhere beheld. On the east coast the natives, as we have seen, have guanaco cloaks, and on the west they possess sealskins. Among these central tribes the men generally have an otter skin, or some small scrap, about as large as a pocket handkerchief, which is barely sufficient to cover their backs as low down as their loins. It is laced across the breast by strings, and according as the wind blows it is shifted from side to side. But these Fuegians in the canoe were quite naked, and even one full-grown woman was absolutely so. It was raining heavily, and the fresh water together with the spray trickled down her body. In another harbor not far distant, a woman who was suckling a recently born child came one day alongside the vessel and remained there out of mere curiosity while the sleet fell and thawed on her naked bosom and on the skin of her naked baby!

These poor wretches were stunted in their growth, their hideous faces bedaubed with white paint, their skins filthy and greasy, their hair entangled, their voices discordant, and their gestures violent. At night five or six human beings, naked and scarcely protected from the wind and rain of this tempestuous climate, sleep on the wet ground coiled up like animals. Viewing such men one can hardly make oneself believe that they are fellow-creatures and inhabitants of the same world … There is no reason to believe that the Fuegians decrease in number...."

BIGFOOT: A BEAST ON THE RUN, a documentary by David Thayer, and featuring MK Davis among others, has finally made it again to DVD. Unfortunately, Amazon is out of it! We'll be looking to find this long-Biscardi-delayed project (the narrator called Tom "bombastic," oh no!). For now, watch the trailer HERE. Where does one GET one of these??? Now three hours of content when adding the two hours of bonus features!

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Look for ANGRY BIGFOOT SPEAKS in the concluding segment of this MK DAVIS interview.

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COMING UP SOON! PART TWO, THE CONCLUSION, OF THIS INTERVIEW. MK is still covering the issue of humaness and culture. We're also hoping for answers on the hand print, the so-called massacre, MK's next projects, and MUCH MORE! Stay tuned.

Friday, November 20, 2009

FILM REVIEW---NOTE: what follows are the opinions of the author. They are based upon impressions of the movie reviewed and/or oral accounts and internet research that may in fact be based upon hearsay. Though we DOUBT it is wrong. Having never met Mr. Biscardi, we cannot make any final conclusions here. That is up to the reader and the viewer.

NOW, for those with the curiosity, but also the great unwillingness to put money into the coffers of one whom many regard as an irremediable con-man, huckster and bigfooting charlatan, Tom Biscardi's recent film, BIGFOOT LIVES, is now available for free viewing for members on Netflix. Click HERE to watch it on your computer, if you are signed up. We know, maybe he'll make a very small royalty on this online streaming version, but we doubt it will amount to much. The film is worth viewing, if only to see the flawed methodology and exploitative nature of presentation, or if you are a Bigfoot completist like we are. You may buy it if you like through the title link above--just being fair, Tom!

Image: Official product image from Amazon.com... "Best Director" and "Best Documentary"? In WHAT film festival was that, Tom??? OMG.

Now, I don't know the man personally, so who am I to talk? He does seem to have a lot of friends, just not in the serious domain of well-regarded and serious Bigfoot researchers. The first step in any con is the warm handshake, the building of social confidences. Well, what I can tell you about is the kind of thing I've heard from just about every person this man and his past GABRO and current SEARCHING FOR BIGFOOT groups have dealt with over the many years he's been in bigfooting, plus the ridiculous things I've seen from him in the media, the horrid own-horn-tooting quality of his online radio show (complete with constant Bozo horn sound effects every five minutes or so)... and, of course, this terrible DVD he's released.

"There's a sucker born every minute." - P. T. Barnum
"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public." - H. L. Mencken

Well, OK, it isn't really ALL bad. There are undoubtedly some honest witnesses in there, with real stories of encounters with the big, stinky bipeds. However, these folks should look out! What we see in this film is NOT Bigfoot, but rather constant Biscardi. From all appearances this man seems to be a classic con artist, one who makes friends to use and exploit, and then discard them. Just ask around Happy Camp, CA, as we have, and you will see the wreckage he left behind there, a bad attitude towards Bigfoot researchers that has surely hampered the reporting of sightings and the formal discovery of the species. We'll just quote the Wikipedia article on Biscardi and the "Happy Camp Fiasco" here:

"2005 hoax: On July 14, 2005, Biscardi appeared on the radio program Coast to Coast AM and claimed he was "98% sure" his group would be able to capture a Bigfoot near Happy Camp, California. On August 19, he returned to say he knew of the location of a captured Bigfoot specimen, and that he would air footage of the creature through a $14 web-cam service. However, on the day the footage was to be distributed, Biscardi claimed he was "hoodwinked" by a woman in Stagecoach, Nevada, and that the specimen did not exist. Coast to Coast AM host George Noory demanded that Biscardi refund the money to people who had paid for the web-cam subscription. Biscardi then offered a refund on his website to those who had subscribed for the service after August 19."

Rumor around Willow Creek has it that Biscardi was from the start in collusion with a couple of good-old-boys who were making faked footprints up there in Happy Camp to draw attention to their town. We don't know if this is true, but we'd believe it. Upon arrival in the area Biscardi immediately began stirring up a media circus, as he seems to do everywhere he goes (television is the real goal of his hunt, we think). From there it just got worse with every step, and many were left behind feeling betrayed or ripped off. The segment on nationally syndicated and globally streamed C2C AM (The "Art Bell" Show) was one of the most outrageous this writer has EVER heard, on any radio show, and that is after listening to the C2C show since 1989. Among all the myriad weird guests on there over the years we've never heard one so excoriated, so discredited by the host, so caught up in lies and a public scam live on the air. And a number of these show guests have actually been thrown off the air over the years. Loren Coleman's THE CRYPTOZOOLOGIST has a great summary of the event in their article, "Coast to Coast AM Keeps Biscardi on Track" and there is a good update HERE on CRYPTOMUNDO.COM.

But she did indirectly imply things about her experiences with the guy and the storm of BS he stirred up. Like something out of Harry Potter, she refers to him as "“he whose name will not appear in my blog,”

Every Bigfoot aficionado and investigator has been hurt by his antics, as the subject looks more ridiculous the more attention Biscardi gets. For every step forward in the battle for legitimization and public acceptance of the subject, media hound Biscardi seems to take three steps toward making it look absurd, uncultured, ignorant and foolish to believe that such a creature exists. One almost cringes to see him in action with such exploitation, knowing full well how negative the impact will be upon one's own bigfooting activities and research. One bombastic buffoon, one clown, one crook in the mix, one seen so publicly, can discredit a whole field of endeavor. Serious bigfooters should not underestimate this impact. Biscardi's show is one of the top-rated among the thousands on the online BlogTalk Radio podcast network. If you hear about Bigfoot on the major news channels it is likely to be another Biscardi confabulation. This is how the general public gets to see Bigfoot: through bogus bullshit, hype and deception. When the Bigfoot "body" was announced from Georgia the whole serious bigfooting world groaned in disgust when they heard who was involved in the "discovery."

Images: two photos in the press conference release packet for the Georgia Gorilla hoax presentation. Above, Biscardi with the "good old boy" hoaxers (his allies?). Below, the Halloween costume stuffed with animal parts, guts tossed on top, on ice.

Do you remember the Georgia Gorilla Hoax that Biscardi was a part of, and almost certainly originated and encouraged? (Read about it HERE on Squatchopedia if not, or the official Searching for Bigfoot press release HERE.) Well that was not the start of it. Biscardi's bigfooting pedigree goes directly back to the notorious old-time hoaxer and trickster, Ivan Marx. Marx' "The Legend of Bigfoot" (1976) (also viewable on Netflix for free HERE, or on YouTube HERE) is an assemblage of natural historical "documentary" and confabulation, a bunch of made up stories and faked sighting footage showing his wife prancing and stumbling around in a field pretending to be the Bossburg Cripplefoot. This film was made simply to exploit the interest in Bigfoot after the Patterson-Gimlin film was shot. The "Bigfoot" footage in this feature is, in the words of anthropologist Jeff Meldrum, "a transparent hoax." And yet, to this day, Tom Biscardi claims that the ape-suited subject of the film was a 7-8 foot tall Sasquatch and was horrifying as it charged them. He tells the story with fake trembling in his voice and feigned excitement. Give me a break, please, Tom. There is perhaps no more ridiculous Bigfoot hoax film than that one! Biscardi wants so badly to be known to have seen the beast, to be known as the "#1 Bigfoot Hunter in the Nation," that even something obviously untrue is better than nothing. All publicity is good publicity, I guess, when you're operating on this level. If he can't FIND Bigfoot, he'll INVENT it. But you've got to ask, Would you buy even a used car from this man?

We've heard some who've encountered him say they think Tom is just "gullible," that he is overly enthusiastic and believes people's stories too easily. But when viewing a film like "BIGFOOT LIVES" or "NOT YOUR TYPICAL BIGFOOT MOVIE" after the Georgia Gorilla and Happy Camp fiascoes one cannot help but see it the other way around. The cynical, calculating modus operandi, by all appearances and as seen in his own movie, is to go around building confidences in folks who want attention, who want to escape the small town mundanity of their lives, who are perhaps eager for monetary gain, and to USE them. The latter movie shows full evidence of this, where Biscardi is show cultivating a relationship, using it for what it's worth, and then abandoning the poor fellows. Tom got his movie footage, seen in HIS movie, but he left Dallas Gilbert and his poor friend standing around waiting at an abandoned appointment.

So, what IS in this movie? It's a lot of footage of Tom, Java Bob and crew driving around on interstate highways in their big, fancy "Searching for Bigfoot" gas guzzlers. It's basically that and Mr. Biscardi shmoozing with witnesses and potential Biscardi-cult members, or Biscardi taking credit for all the advancements in Bigfooting, or Biscardi propounding his own brand of feel-good philosophy, or Biscardi stomping around in the woods at night claiming to see things that just obviously are not there, or Biscardi just plain making shit up and wrongly interpreting evidence.

First there are a whole lot of suspicious-looking footprint finds. Like: one or two (it was not made clear) prints found in the middle of a muddy marsh bog in Paris, Texas. Tom, where is the TRACKWAY? Did Bigfoot just appear from the fifth dimension to make one footprint in a bog? How did that one print GET there? No attempt is made to show these things, rendering this part of the documentary useless, save if one wants to watch them make a plaster cast of something that sure looks like a faked plant (search Biscardi's van and I'll bet you'll find his footprint stomping mold right there under the passenger seat!).

Image: the commercial product used in the faking of the "Bigfoot Corpse."

Then they head to Deer River, Minnesota, where they see a bunch of very fake looking footprint casts. Biscardi finds a white hair superficially attached to the cement-like casting material. Suspiciously, this looks exactly like one of Java Bob's whitened beard hairs, in both length and color. A big show is made of boiling a Leatherman's pliers to remove the hair when it could probably have just been knocked off the cast with a pencil tip, and then while putting it into an envelope they take no care at all not to touch the inside of the envelope and hence contaminate it with human DNA. After all this show we don't get any presentation of the results of the DNA testing. Want to guess why? Clearly, this was Java Bob's or some other human's hair, not Bigfoot's.

Then we get to see the aforementioned Wayne and his friend Dallas in Ohio. Their method? Set up cameras on parts of the forest, take random footage, and then go home and try to find blobsquatches in the images. Very scientific, guys. Very imaginative. Bigfoot? No. This finding of shadows and phantoms not being enough, they present a blurry white thing that, um, could be Bigfoot. Or it could have been a littered grocery sack blowing in the wind! After this a known hoaxed photo of a man in an ape suit is presented. Great evidence!

Then we move on to a hand in formaldehyde, supposedly found in a public trash dump. It looks just about the size of a human hand... or maybe an animal paw. The DNA results, totally ineffectual for a piece of a body sitting god knows how long in preservative chemicals, were presented verbally in the film as "unknown, non-human, not a known primate." A little further research we did and proper wording reveal the real result: "inconclusive, due to degradation." This approach that seeks to bend the words of a lab report is seen again in the testing of some hair found by a Native American cop in Arizona. One of his samples was shown to be synthetic. The other, as seen in Biscardi's reaction where he interprets it: "Here it comes again, one more time," meaning that he thinks it is "non-human, unknown primate." But, IN FACT, the camera pans right onto the actual lab report, and the viewer can read it. There, before the viewers' very eyes, is the actual laboratory conclusion: "non-human, animal origin"!!! What does this mean, folks? That the hair came from... AN ANIMAL. Well, duh! But that is NOT proof that they came from a Bigfoot. It doesn't prove anything save for the fact that Biscardi couldn't give a damn for the truth, or that perhaps he can't even read. This clearly shows the non-scientific and obviously dishonest or delusional nature of the Searching for Bigfoot methodology.

Image: The fakest BF photo this side of blobsquatches in a LONG time. Sourced from:http://www.webjam.com/biscardi_exposed, where they say this about the photographer, "a local reporter confronted a local costumer and identified Mobius as buying a gorilla suit a few days before the media cabal. But Biscardi, as usual avoids the boring true story and heads right for the sensationalism...".

From there we get to hear mysterious music playing as Biscardi walks around in some fields. He knocks a stick against a tree, and then superimposed audio that could have come from anywhere is spliced in, as if it were Bigfoot's response to Tom. Then we see the fakest looking Halloween costumed "Bigfoot" ever, standing next to a golf cart. We see a leg with some meat hanging off of it that was dug up by a dog. It could be from any animal, but being only a couple of feet long I am not sure why they seem to think it came from a Bigfoot. At the end we see an excavation of a human body in the woods in what looks decidedly like grave-robbing of a Native American. Biscardi steps in and with no evidence at all of his claims states that the bones are from about 500 BC. How did you "know" this, Tom? They measure the grave-scattered bones and conclude that it could not be human because the thing is about seven feet tall. Um, damn, I'd better just stop here. In short, there is not one single piece of evidence in this video that even comes close to being convincing.

Far from revealing that "Bigfoot Lives," this mock-you-mentary clearly shows that it certainly exists in Biscardi's mind, and it is there in the interests of his pocketbook and ego. With all of that expensive technological gear and rhetorical hoopla you'd think they could have gotten at least a decent thermal image of the Creature, or maybe at least a piece of scat or something that could be honestly tested. Instead, the viewer is left feeling, in the end, like a big Bigfoot turd has just been dropped on his or her head. Biscardi should at least not go around claiming that he's the inventor of concepts like Bigfoot migration. That idea is as old as the hills, and credit for it should probably go to John Green, we'd say. He even claims he is the first to say that Bigfoot is nocturnal. Oh, please, come on. Tom! Can't you find a job at a casino or something? Leave Bigfoot Alone. Where is the BFRO when you need them most?

An AMAZING website exists to analyze (I should say DEBUNK) Biscardi and his so-called evidence and highly questionable methods. It also includes his "Bigfoot Business Plan" fully documented. Go there now: http://www.webjam.com/biscardi_exposed.

Curious about Biscardi's point of view? Want to see some really bad faked Photoshop Bigfoot photos and Blobsquatches? Go HERE, to the Searching for Bigfoot site, if you dare. Go ahead, listen to Bozo toot his own horn on the Bigfoot Live Radio Show on BlogTalkRadio.

If YOU or someone you know has had an encounter with Tom Biscardi we invite you to leave COMMENTS, below. All comments, pro and con, will be tolerated and approved by this bLog, save for those that are demonstrable Spam.

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NEWS FLASH---ANNOUNCEMENT: Just out is a new documentary called BIGFOOT'S REFLECTION. This one features good, solid, reasonable researchers, in distinct contrast to the other one we've just covered. Featured bigfooters are John Bindernagal, Robert Pyle, John Green, Bill Miller, John Kirk, Thomas Steenburg, Richard Noll and Mel Skahan. Check out the trailer HERE on the Bunbury Films site. They're sending a review copy to us here at BIGFOOT BOOKS, so expect more detailed coverage on this blog soon. If it's really good we'll be carrying here in the Bigfoot Books shop in Willow Creek.

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MORE BIGFOOT FILMS:

In great distinction to the really bad fictional Sasquatch films reviewed previously HERE on this blog, we're pleased to announce that there are a couple of good ones out there. Bigfoot films are in a genre unto themselves, but the following two are clever genre-benders, featuring not only two quite good Bigfoot-suited monsters (going beyond the usual cheap gorilla costumes), and introducing intriguing pastiches and borrowings from other horror films. These both demonstrate meta-critical positions of self-aware bad genre film-making, transcending the bad with good production values and humorous in-jokes. And, of course, there is always the need to compete with all the other Bigfoot films from the past, to beat them in the savagery and gore departments, all whilst using the usual arm-through-the-window, shadow-across-the-wall tropes so familiar to slasher flick fans.

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ABOMINABLE (2006), directed and written by Ryan Schifrin, stars a very competent Matt McCoy as a paralyzed guy returning from a mental hospital in an attempt to recover from the death of his wife in a climbing accident on the mountain behind his remote, forest-surrounded house. Next door, the same day he arrives, the usual clichéd hot babe co-eds show up for a pre-wedding bachelorette party. It gets juicy fast.

Needless to say, it isn't just the recovering protagonist who is annoyed with their loud hip-hop music, valley girl chatter, and pot smoking. No, there is also the real resident of this area--Bigfoot--and boy is he pissed. And he's hungry for hot human blood. Why Bigfoot likes to eat young co-eds is still not explained by this film. But hey, they must be tasty or something. Or maybe it was the rap music? Bigfoot really, really hates car horns honking here, too.

In a scenario right out of Hitchcock's Rear Window, the man who is trapped in his wheelchair on the second story with his annoying orderly witnesses a young woman attacked and dragged into the woods. Her compatriots do not even notice. The man cannot communicate because the phone line is down. Then he sees Sasquatch playing peeping Tom from the forest's edge as a young woman takes a shower. From there things only get worse, and in the most ghastly and gory ways. If you like gruesomeness you will love this film.

And to be fair to both genders--though we don't want even to begin to spoil the hideous fun for you--we do have to say that at one point the obnoxious mental hospital male nurse hurls a large axe into Bigfoot's back, and he is subsequently given the high honor of having the entire front part of his face and head bitten off in graphic detail, from upper mouth to upper forehead. Lovely!

Images: Poster and titles screen, the latter being footprints in the snow left after two horses were slaughtered outside a rural cabin, and then the dog was smooshed. Next: Bigfoot hates cars! Next: Bigfoot in Love, or something like that. Next: the inimitable Squatcher, Lance Henricksen. Next, more savagery, plus Eyes in the Dark.

The Bigfoot in this film is a strikingly believable one, standing at around seven and a half feet tall, but not a totally stereotypical one. It's visage is truly interesting and disturbing, its eye and facial movements in particular, done with electric servos, are convincingly done. This sure beats the CGI crap seen in SASQUATCH HUNTERS. That's part of the reason this is a good film--it eschews the newfangled and sticks with the tried and true modes of the genre.The creature moving around in the dark, as well as killing in the light, moves and behaves like one would think a living Bigfoot should, and it's convincing enough to be both cool for a Bigfoot believer and scary for all.

Lance Henricksen, whose post-MILLENNIUM career is rapidly becoming defined by Sasquatch Slasher films, makes a fine cameo appearance as a Bigfoot hunter who enters a cave pursuing the beast, and is promptly shredded. What IS it about Henricksen and Bigfoot? He's been in like four of these now!

We won't try to spoil the ending, save with the picture below, which shows that skeptical, scoffing sheriffs should never let themselves appear in a Sasquatch movie. Bigfoot gets the last say here, and I'm all for that. Plus the good guy and one of the co-eds escape alive, and the promise of a seriously age-disparate love affair is vaguely suggested.

This film was shot in the mountains around Idylwild, CA, in the San Jacinto Mountains, a pretty good piece of Sasquatch habitat. And if you liked Scream or Friday the 13th and all the rest of them, and also have a liking for the Nature-Strikes-Back film, then this one is for you.

Watch the film on YouTube HERE, though it won't be as cool as on the bigger screen. Or if the legal guys take that one down, view the cool official trailer HERE.

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SASQUATCH MOUNTAIN (2006) stars Lance Henriksen again as a stone-tough and gritty, yet sensitive, ex-Nam vet whose wife was run down and killed by a car in an accident caused by a Sasquatch crossing the road. But by the end of the film he is the one who prevails, reaching some kind of peace with himself while bonding with the dying, bullet-riddled Sasquatch. Written by and co-starring the clever Michael Worth, this film incorporates all the old horror themes and combines them with the escaping bank robber trope. Some funny Tarrantino-esque criminal slapstick occurs, even a "Mexican standoff."

The bank robbers escape into the woods, pursued by some Sheriffs and a good-old boy Nam vet posse. A young woman escaping an abusive relationship is just passing through the area, but gets caught up in the action, ironically, as a hostage. This role is well played by the ever-bosomous Cerina Vincent. The bad guys are an amusingly motley crew of characters, including a very-Kill-Bill tough-ass Asian woman who gets in some intense girl-on-girl fighting action with the main star. Cameo roles among the goofy posse are classic, including one from Ron Howard's father, Rance Howard.

This film operates around the usual pissed-off Sasquatch theme. Here, an old man had been feeding a Bigfoot family for years from his remote ranch. His mummified, long-dead corpse is found. Then some bloody afterbirth is found. Apparently, Bigfoot is a newly-become daddy. He's mad, and he's hungry; and true to the formula limbs and blood do fly. In the end, the death howls of the Bigfoot are answered from the deep woods by a more feminine response, and then the howling crying of a Sasquatch baby. A tragic end. Tragic, too, though probably just, is the fact that they bury the Bigfoot out in the woods, and tell the world that it was a bear that killed all of those folks. The message again: Respect the Big Guy.

This film was made in the forested mountains of northern Arizona, and the habitat appears to be acceptable for a Bigfoot, if a whole lot harder for a human, to survive in. Watch the trailer for SASQUATCH MOUNTAIN on YouTube HERE.

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ANGRY BIGFOOT SPEAKS!: Me let hu-man be angry this week. Me leave fake toenail for Biscardi Tom to find. Ha ha!!! ME not mad at him, he is good fun, me play joke, me like it when hu-man look like stupid naked ape. Me trick or treat in hu-man suit costume, me leave big bag of burning Bigfoot poop on Biscardi house doormat. Me take his Hummer truck, drive over his grass yard. If I a joke in hu-man television, no one ever, ever find me!
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All images are public product images, or used for promotional purposes, part of an official press release, or in one case sourced from another internet site. Text copyright 2009, Bigfoot Books, and may be quoted or used with full citation including a link to this blog. Thanks!

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COMING SOON! The M.K. DAVIS INTERVIEW is about halfway done. Look for it, hopefully next week!

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